Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt If perchance you go to the park they call Wilderness look for the maroon bridge that spans across the great divide between the untamed land of the woods and the coarse grass land of the prairie; once you find it step lightly for it is sore with old age; go to the middle and you will see as you gently bend over its knotty balustrade dead branches and turtles nonchalantly floating downstream and a few feet away from the abutment under a bed of soggy withered leaves unprotected – a bulky old chest; no need for a key, it opens readily without a squeak of disapproval; then, if you can entrust yourself to the veil of oblivion that lingers within you it may be a sign that you are ready ready for the ocean taste of life ready to reach in and pull out a silver sailboat all rigged up its lateen sail bracing for the racing wind idly waiting to glide on the caressing waves of time. (1987)